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Lost Knowledge of the Imagination
Praise for Gary Lachman “The Lost Knowledge of the Imagination rejoins the parted Red Sea of modern intellect, demonstrating how rationalism and esotericism are not divided forces but necessary complements and parts of a whole in the human wish for understanding. More still, he elevates the relevancy of spiritual philosophies that we are apt to short-shrift, from Crowley to positive thinking, and issues a warning: If thoughts are causative, it is all the more vital that we, the thinkers, know ourselves.” Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award-winning author of Occult America and One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life “A cracking author.” Lynn Picknett, Magonia Review of Books “Lachman is an easy to read author yet has a near encyclopaedic knowledge of esotericism and is hence able to offer many different perspectives on the subject at hand.” Living Traditions magazine “Lachman’s sympathetic, but not uncritical, account of [Rudolf Steiner’s] life is to be recommended to anyone who wishes to be better informed about this gifted and remarkable man.” Kevin Tingay, The Christian Parapsychologist “Lachman challenges many contemporary theories by reinserting a sense of the spiritual back into the discussion” Leonard Schlain, author of The Alphabet Versus the Goddess “Lachman’s depth of reading and research are admirable.” Scientific and Medical Network Review For Kathleen Raine (1908-2003), who showed the way Contents Title Page Dedication Acknowledgments Chapter One: A Different Kind of Knowing Chapter Two: A Look Inside the World Chapter Three: The Knower and the Known Chapter Four: The Way Within Chapter Five: The Learning of the Imagination Chapter Six: The Responsible Imagination Further Reading Also by Gary Lachman Copyright Acknowledgments My thanks go to my editor Christopher Moore for taking on the project and to the staff of the British Library where most of the research was done. -
Painting the Masters. the Mystery of Hermann Schmiechen
Painting the Masters The Mystery of Hermann Schmiechen Massimo Introvigne (UPS, Torino, Italy) Besançon’s Forbidden Image One of the first books where sociology of religion met history of art was L’image interdite. Une histoire intellectuelle de l’iconoclasme, published by French social historian Alain Besançon in 1994 Iconoclasm vs Iconodulism The controversial book argued that Western art history is defined by opposition between iconoclasm (i.e the idea that the sacred should not be represented visually) and iconodulism (i.e support for sacred images) Although the terminology dates back to the Byzantine iconoclastic riots of the 8th century (right), modern Western iconoclasm originated with John Calvin (1509-1564) and became culturally dominant after the Enlightenment Iconoclasm: not against art, but against an art representing God or divine spirits Besançon’s definition of iconoclasm is not identical with some dictionary definitions of the same word. For him, iconoclasm is not against art and may even promote it. It only excludes from the field of art the representation of God and divine spirits or beings Image of Byzantine Emperor Leo III (685-741) on a coin: Leo, a leading iconoclast, was obviously not against representing himself Abstract Art as Iconoclasm Besançon* also argued that: 1. Iconoclasm is a distinctive trait of modernity, and abstract art is its most mature fruit 2. Symbolism, at first sight anti-iconoclastic, by substituting the Christian foundations of sacred art with a very different esoteric spirituality, in fact prepared the way for abstract iconoclasm 3. Several abstract painters, including Piet Mondrian (1872- 1944) passed at one stage through symbolism (Evolution, 1910-1911, left) * … with whom I do not necessarily agree Besançon and Theosophy Besançon claimed to be among the first social historians to devote serious attentions to Madame Blavatsky (1831-1891) and other Theosophical classics. -
Hermes in the Academy WT.Indd
In 1999, an innovative chair and expertise center was created at the Faculty wouter j. hanegraaff and joyce pijnenburg (eds.) of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam, focused on the history of Western esotericism from the Renaissance to the present. The label “Western esotericism” refers here to a complex of historical currents such as, notably, the Hermetic philosophy of the Renaissance, mystical, magical, alchemical and astrological currents, Christian kabbalah, Paracelsianism, Rosicrucianism, Christian theosophy, and the many occultist and related esoteric currents that developed in their wake during the 19th and the 20th centuries. This complex of “alternative” religious currents is studied from a critical historical and interdisciplinary perspective, with the intention of studying the roles that they have played in the history of Western culture. In the past ten years, the chair for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents has succeeded in establishing itself as the most important center for study and teaching in this domain, and has strongly contributed to the establishment of Western esotericism as a recognized academic field of research. This volume is published at the occasion of the 10th anniversary. Hermes in the Academy in the Hermes It contains a history of the creation and development of the chair, followed by articles on aspects of Western esotericism by the previous and current staff members, contributions by students and Ph.D. students about the study program, and reflections by international top specialists about the field of research and its academic development. Prof. Dr. Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. -
Differences and Sameness
Diferences and Sameness: Abstract Secularity in the Case of Nicholas Roerich1 The article explores the conceptual structures behind secularity and associated concepts such as immanence versus transcendence and progress versus anachronism by drawing on the life and Mi You and Eszter Szakács activities of Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947). Roerich was a Russian painter, theosophist and archaeolo- gist. He established his reputation both as a spiritual leader and as a painter mixing syncretic religious symbols, from Orthodox Mi You (由宓) is a curator, researcher, and academic staff member at the Academy of Christianity, Theosophy to Tibetan Buddhism. Together with his Media Arts in Cologne. Her long-term research and curatorial project takes the Silk Road as a figuration for deep-time, deep-space, de-centralised and nomadic imageries. Under wife, he pursued—and ultimately failed—to establish Shambhala this theme she has curated a series of performative programmes at the Asian Culture (paradise in Tibetan Buddhism) in the area from Tibet to South- Center Theatre in Gwangju, South Korea, and the inaugural Ulaanbaatar International ern Siberia, in a time of great geopolitical tension. Media Art Festival, Mongolia (2016). Her academic interests lie in performance philoso- phy, science and technology studies, as well as philosophy of immanence in Eastern and Western traditions. She is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany) We argue that Roerich’s enterprise emerges from the ruins of and serves as advisor to The Institute for Provocation (Beijing). multiple broken orders: the empire/transnationalism, tradi- Eszter Szakács is a curator and editor based in Budapest. She has worked at tranzit.hu tionalism, mysticism, religiosity and Communism on the one since 2011. -
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives EDITED BY LOUISE HARDIMAN AND NICOLA KOZICHAROW https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2017 Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow. Copyright of each chapter is maintained by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow, Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0115 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#resources Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. The publication of this volume has been made possible by a grant from the Scouloudi Foundation in association with the Institute of Historical Research at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. -
A Few Words About Nicholas Roerich's Swedish
Studia Rossica Gedanensia, 4/2017, 363–367, ISSN 2392-3644 (online), ISSN 2449-6715 (print) https://doi.org/10.26881/srg.2017.4.22 A FEW WORDS ABOUT NICHOLAS ROERICH’S SWEDISH CONNECTIONS MAŁGORZATA GDOK-KLAFKOWSKA Szczecin, Polska niezależna badaczka życia i twórczości rodziny Rerichów e-mail: [email protected] (nadesłano 28.08.2017; zaakceptowano 7.09.2017) Abstract The paper attempts at tracing the connections of Nicholas Roerich with Sweden as ex- emplified by his participation in the Baltic Exhibition at Malmö in 1914 and his great individual art exhibition at Stockholm in 1918. The author is a free-lance researcher in the life and works of the Roerich family. Key words Nicholas Roerich, Baltic Exhibition of 1914, Gummeson Gallery. Abstrakt Artykuł podejmuje próbę prześledzenia związków Mikołaja K. Rericha ze Szwecją na przykładzie jego udziału w Wystawie Bałtyckiej w Malmö w roku 1914 i wystawy indy- widualnej w Sztokholmie w roku 1918. Autorka podkreśla, iż właśnie w trakcie pobytu w Skandynawii w latach 1916-1919 Mikołaj Rerich stał się artystą znanym i cenionym w skali światowej, nie tylko rosyjskiej. Artykuł wiąże się tematycznie z obszerniejszą praca Autorki (przyjętą do druku) na temat pobytu Mikołaja Rericha i jego rodziny w Finlandii. 364 Małgorzata Gdok-Klafkowska Słowa kluczowe Mikołaj K. Rerich, Szwecja, Wystawa Bałtycka 1914, Galeria Gummesona w Sztokhol- mie, wystawa indywidualna Rericha w 1918 roku. This brief paper was first presented at the International Anthropological Confer- ence titled The Swedish Traditions, Customs, And Esthetic Sensitivity on the Example of the Hälsingland Region Culture, held at the Chair of Ethnology and Cultural An- thropology, University of Szczecin on October 5th, 2015. -
AGNI YOGA OR LIVING ETHICS Anita Stasulane in the Course of Time, Theosophy Has Experienced Nume
THE THEOSOPHY OF THE ROERICHS: AGNI YOGA OR LIVING ETHICS Anita Stasulane In the course of time, Theosophy has experienced numerous schisms and the formation of new branches. Agni Yoga (also known as Living Ethics, a name adopted in the 1930s), founded by the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) and his wife Helena Roerich (1879–1955), is one of the most vital branches of Theosophy. The Roerichs formed their Theo sophical system, involving elements of ethics and psychology, on the basis of the ontology, cosmogony, and anthropology created by the founder of the Theosophical Society (TS), Helena Blavatsky. Their followers have since then developed a dense network of Theosophical groups covering almost the whole of Europe and North America as well as several coun tries of South America and Asia. Background: Early Involvement in Theosophy An essential factor in the success of Agni Yoga is the personalities of its founders – Nicholas and Helena Roerich – who claimed to be channels of a new revelation. Though no documentary evidence has been found as to the Roerichs’ formal membership in the Russian Theosophical Society, there is no doubt that they were involved with circles of Theosophists active in their homeland. In Russia, Blavatsky’s teaching had spread at first to private salons, where small circles of people had taken the oppor tunity to form the Russian Section of the Theosophical Society. This organization was founded in 1908 thanks to the fact that freedom of speech and assembly had officially been proclaimed in the Russian Empire in 1905. From which sources the Roerichs had acquired their first information on Theosophy remains, for the time being, unknown; when trying to address this question, one should keep in mind that Nicholas Roerich had become rather actively engaged in salon life. -
{Download PDF} Russia
RUSSIA PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Jilly Hunt | 48 pages | 01 Feb 2012 | Heinemann Educational Books | 9781432961367 | English | Chicago, IL, United States RT - Breaking news, shows, podcasts February Main article: Economy of Russia. See also: List of the largest trading partners of Russia , List of countries by oil exports , and List of countries by natural gas exports. Main articles: Agriculture in Russia and Fishing industry in Russia. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. April Learn how and when to remove this template message. Main articles: Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records , Science and technology in Russia , List of Russian scientists , and List of Russian inventors. Main article: Water supply and sanitation in Russia. Main article: Corruption in Russia. Main articles: Demographics of Russia and Russians. Russia's population pyramid as of 1 January Main article: List of cities and towns in Russia by population. Main article: Ethnic groups in Russia. This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. Play media. Main articles: Religion in Russia and Consecration of Russia. Main article: Healthcare in Russia. Main article: Education in Russia. Main article: Russian culture. See also: Russian traditions , Russian political jokes , Russian fairy tales , Russian cuisine , and Gopnik. Main articles: Russian architecture and List of Russian architects. Main article: Russian artists. Main articles: Russian literature , Russian philosophy , Russian poets , Russian playwrights , Russian novelists , and Russian science fiction and fantasy. Main article: Sport in Russia. See also: Doping in Russia. Main articles: Public holidays in Russia and Cultural icons of Russia. -
Uva-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)
UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The problem of disenchantment: scientific naturalism and esoteric discourse, 1900-1939 Asprem, E. Publication date 2013 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Asprem, E. (2013). The problem of disenchantment: scientific naturalism and esoteric discourse, 1900-1939. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:29 Sep 2021 10 Esoteric Epistemologies [E]ven as Socrates called down philosophy from heaven to earth, so in a somewhat different sense it was Swedenborg who called up philosophy again from earth to heaven; who originated the notion of science in the spiritual world, as earnestly, though not so persuasively, as Socrates originated the idea of science in this world which we seem to know. -
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives EDITED BY LOUISE HARDIMAN AND NICOLA KOZICHAROW To access digital resources including: blog posts videos online appendices and to purchase copies of this book in: hardback paperback ebook editions Go to: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609 Open Book Publishers is a non-profit independent initiative. We rely on sales and donations to continue publishing high-quality academic works. Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art New Perspectives Edited by Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2017 Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow. Copyright of each chapter is maintained by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the authors (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Louise Hardiman and Nicola Kozicharow, Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2017, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0115 In order to access detailed and updated information on the license, please visit https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/609#resources Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. -
1 Steiner and the Theosophical Current Egil Asprem This Sixth
English preprint version of: Asprem, Egil. “Vorwort: Steiner und die theosophische Strömung.” In: ChristiAn Clement (ed.), Schriften – Rudolf Steiner Kritische Ausgabe: Band 6: Schriften zur Anthropologie – Theosophie – Anthroposophie. Ein Fragment. StuttgArt: frommAnn-holzboog Verlag e.K., 2016. url: https://www.frommann-holzboog.de/editionen/127/127000610?lang=en-gb. Steiner and the Theosophical Current Egil Asprem This sixth volume of ChristiAn Clement’s impressive series of critical editions of Rudolf Steiner’s writings provides a lens onto some of the most controversiAl questions in Steiner research: How much of A break is there between Steiner the philosopher and Steiner the occultist? To what extent did Theosophy influence and shape Steiner’s trajectory, as he sought to define his own anthroposophical school? WhAt Are we to make of the mix of concepts from German ideAlism, Theosophy, the works of Goethe, and the Christian theological canon that are all evident in Steiner’s work, even in his most esoteric texts?1 These questions have become pArticulArly controversiAl due to the attempt of different interest groups to provide a “pure” picture of Steiner, one that is comprehensible in light of some prototype like “the philosopher”, “the occultist”, or “the spirituAl teacher”. From Apologists and sceptics of Anthroposophy, to philosophers, theologians, And historians, diverging Agendas have sought to make Steiner a “good guy” or a “bad guy” relAtive to their own respective narratives. Thus, the presence of theosophical conceptual structures in Steiner’s lAter work hAs been cAst As A threAt to some Anthroposophists, who need An originAl yet respectAble thinker As the founder of their movement. -
Buddha from Space”
The Strange Case of the “Buddha from Space” Isrun Engelhardt (Icking) “Priceless Tibetan Buddha statue looted by Nazis,” “Der Nazi-Buddha aus dem All” [Nazi Buddha from Space],” “Ancient statue discovered by Nazis is made from meteorite.” he end of September 2012 saw such reports almost daily in the international media, from The New York Times and The T Guardian to Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Spiegel Online. What had happened? The distinguished Guardian had this to say: A priceless Buddha statue looted by Nazis in Tibet in the 1930s was carved from a meteorite which crashed to the Earth 15,000 years ago, according to new research. The relic bears a Buddhist swastika on its belly – an ancient symbol of luck that was later co-opted by the Nazis in Germany. Analysis has shown the statue is made from an incredibly rare form of nickel-rich iron present in falling stars. The 1,000-year-old carving, which is 24cm high and weighs 10kg, depicts the god Vaisravana, the Buddhist King of the North, and is known as the Iron Man statue. It was stolen before the Second World War during a pillage of Tibet by Hitler’s SS, who were searching for the origins of the Aryan race. It eventually made its way to a private collection and was hidden away until it was auc- tioned in 2007. … Buchner’s team of researchers from Germany and Austria dated it to a specific event in astronomy history when the Chinga meteorite fell in the border region of eastern Siberia and Mongolia between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago.